Sensex Falls Over 250 Points, Nifty Below 8,750

The Sensex fell over 250 points in the last 30 minutes of trade on the back of sudden selling in banking, capital goods, IT and auto stocks.

The 50-share Nifty slipped below its important psychological level of 8,750 led by losses in BHEL, Infosys, Bharti Airtel and Tata Motors.

Meanwhile, the broader markets also witnessed a bout of profit-booking. After touching record high earlier in the day the mid-cap index was down 0.7 per cent.

Banking stocks which were trading on a firm note came under a sudden selling pressure on the back of profit-booking at higher levels. The Bank Nifty was down nearly 1 per cent. Banking stocks such as Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were trading 0.6-3.5 per cent each.

Selling pressure was also seen in IT, pharma, auto, capital goods, metal, power and realty stocks.

From the Nifty basket, BHEL was the top loser, the stock fell 4 per cent to Rs 233. HCL Technologies, Axis Bank, Wipro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Cipla, Coal India, Bharti Airtel and Tata Steel were also among the losers, down 2-3.5 per cent each.

At 3:23 p.m., the Sensex was down 251 points to 28,793 and the Nifty fell 89 points to 8,745.